Once In A Long While
by Jupiter666
Summary: This story was something that I was asked to do by my reading teacher for a writing contest. It has to be less than 1500 words so it is a short story. It's about Jean Gray and what happens to her after a tragic event. Updated and complete! Please R&R.


The fog crept in slowly through the mountains like soft clouds of dust. The moonlight shown brightly over the trees and a small pool of water could be seen from the mountaintops. A girl with long red hair lies peacefully sleeping. Her dreams, a mere passageway into heaven that only came around once in a long while. But not all dreams are good. The girl, Jean, was unaware of the presence that followed her dreams like a predator stalking its prey.

Out of no where, a loud crash sounded downstairs. Jean sat upright, listening intensely for another sound to tell her she wasn't imagining the first. When all remained silent she got up from her bed and flipped on a lamp, which stood on a small table next to her bed. She looked around the room to make sure everything was in place when the same crash sounded again. Jean immediately ran to a wooden door that connected her room with Kitty's and tapped twice softly. After no response she shook the door open (the lock had always been weak, not much use for one anyway) and looked around, expecting to see Kitty fast asleep in her bed. But Jean noticed something was wrong. She looked towards the bed and there was no one there.

She took a step back, away from the door, but still Kitty could not be seen. She calmed herself down and reassured herself that Kitty was probably just downstairs getting a snack. Seeing how she does that often, Kitty most likely also made the crashing sound. Jean gave a weak smile, trying hard to remain calm.

Taking a deep breath, she shut the door. But instead of going back to bed she decided to take a look downstairs. As she walked down the long, dark, forbidding hallway a weird feeling came over her; a feeling of insecurity. A feeling of vulnerability that wouldn't go away. She suppressed the feeling and continued her journey to the kitchen where she thought she'd find Kitty.

As she walked on it became increasingly clear that the hallway had somehow grown longer, wider even. But how? Jean shook her head and told herself she was just tired and a little scared, nothing more. It was all in her imagination. But those lighthearted words wouldn't stop the haunting feeling that surrounded her. She heard another crash and then froze as scream came from just down the hall. She didn't know whether to turn around and run or to help the person she heard scream. Without a second thought she ran in the direction of the scream. She ran faster and faster every second but the hallway seemed to be endless. After what seemed like hours she finally came to the end. Here she faced two paths. One led just around the corner, though she didn't remember that being there before, and the other led through a door that she was pretty sure went into the kitchen area. Jean was just about to walk through the door when she saw a tall, ominous shadow approaching from around the corner. The shadow was hunched over, it's head low to the ground. However the way it moved made it seem like it was walking on air. Jean couldn't make out the figure because the lighting in the hallway had suddenly grown dim and she had to strain to see anything at all.

Jean looked hard at the shadowy figure standing silently across from her in the hallway. As her eyes adjusted to the ever-growing darkness she noticed that it was not alone. It was leaning over something, and even though Jean could not see its face she could still feel its cold, hard glare as it focused on the ground beneath it. Lying on the ground was a girl. Her long brown hair in disarray and her clothes damp with what looked like blood. Jean's face paled as she realized who the girl was lying on the floor. It was Kitty.

Jean tried to run to her but something kept her back. It wasn't fear but something that had a sense of depravity that Jean had never felt before. She looked at Kitty in disbelief, as her clothes grew heavy from the blood that silently flowed from her body. A pool of blood began to surround both her and the shadow like a moat occluding outsiders that posed a threat. All Jean could do was stand and stare at her former friend and roommate. Her slender chest rising and falling slowly, like the leaves of a tree on a windy fall day. Her pale white skin bruised and stained with blood.

Jean focused her gaze on the stranger that loomed over Kitty like a vulture staring down its prey. The stranger lifted its head up high as if in triumph. Jean, surprised by her own lack of fear, found herself screaming at the stranger. A painful cry made it's way past her lips and the stranger nodded as if understanding Jean's pain. It slowly pulled back its hood and there stood a boy who looked to be about seventeen. His dark, messy hair refused to shine in what little light there was making its way through the hall. His mouth carefully shaped in a perfect half-grin. But it wasn't the smile or the way he stood that made Jean stare. It was his eyes; like two cold harsh pits of darkness that shunned life itself. His eyes were like the fiery pits of Hell, and though they could bare no one's reflection they seemed to stare straight back at Jean. They looked like pain. And Jean saw something in the boy that made her resist the urge to be mad at what he'd done.

Like a flash of lightning all of Jean's fears and hatred came rushing back to her and she forgot who she saw. Only what. A cold-hearted murderer. Jean looked back down at where Kitty once lay but she was gone. Nothing but darkness and the pool of crimson blood remained. She shook her head slowly as she backed away, trying to take everything in.

The boy let his smile fall and slowly extended his arm out to Jean. The black cloak that wrapped itself around him fell away from his hand as he held it out to her. She stared at the boy in shock and continued backing away from him. The boy drew back his hand and a cold rush of wind blew into the room. As if on cue, a dark whirlwind began to form around the boy and he slowly disappeared into the darkness, leaving Jean alone in the long dark hallway.

She stood there for a long time. All night her body refused to move. The sun came up but no light would shine into the hallway that had removed itself from the rest of the world. She stood there for days letting the darkness slowly devour her until there was nothing left but ash. Jean was no longer there, and the days and months that went by were a mere dream. A dream that only came around once in long while.


End file.
